Exclusive: Brentwood health care company expands to the Midwest with deal

John Rutledge is president and CEO of American Physician Partners. American Physician Partners, a fast-growing Brentwood-based health care company formed through a $24 million deal in 2015, is expanding yet again.

The company, which manages emergency medicine and hospitalist practices, is adding Michigan-based DeGarA PLLC to its fold in a deal that adds 10 contracts to American Physician Partners’ existing 30. Dr. Tressa Gardner, DeGarA’s president, will join the American Physician Partners team and remain president of DeGarA, which will continue to operate under its current name.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Not only does the deal grow the number of contracts within American Physician Partners, which launched with 13 contracts just about a year and a half ago, it also expands the company’s geographic reach outside the South and Southwest.

“We’re excited about being in the Midwest,” American Physician Partners CEO John Rutledge said. “This puts us … in another section of the country, and there’s a lot of opportunity.”

Rutledge said that hospital experience, something several of American Physician Partners’ founder have, made it clear the emergency department space was one with potential.

“As long-time hospitals guys, several of us, we saw there’s a real need there,” Rutledge said. “We knew the hospitals were not happy with the staffing companies. … They’re just trying to fill the shifts. And we bring so much more than that.”